Erik ten Hag says mistakes made against Leeds United were “unacceptable”

Erik ten Hag, the manager of Manchester United, has expressed his anger at the manner his team began both halves in Wednesday night’s draw against Leeds United.

In the opening minute of the Premier League match, Willy Gnonto scored to quiet Old Trafford, handing the Red Devils a deficit.

Raphael Varane’s own goal in the 48th minute gave Leeds a two-goal lead, giving them a good chance to win all three points in Manchester.

Nevertheless, the game ended 2-2 as Marcus Rashford cut the deficit in half in the 62nd minute before Jadon Sancho equalized eight minutes later.

“Very poor (early goals in each half). It’s unacceptable. You start any game, but especially a derby, the way we did. We were down and had to fight back. We made big mistakes,” Ten Hag told reporters after the match.

“That’s to do with attitude. We were not ready to go into the duels. We lose the duels and the formation was also bad at the start. When we lost the ball, we didn’t follow the principles and were quickly down. And, from the warning in the first half, the second half was the same.

“The players know we have to move. It wasn’t necessary [Pascal] Struijk wins the ball there and he had to get away, with our movements we have to force them to stay low.

“That’s not right. We have to live with it. It still doesn’t mean it has to be a goal. We have to keep Gnonto on the left side and not let him come inside.

“I have to make compliments to the team for the resilience and the way they fight back. I think we make some really good football, great chances and, finally, also we finished and scored two great goals.

“If we don’t concede a goal after half-time, we will win that game but you cannot concede. Of course, it will encourage us for the second game in a couple of days that, if we play our game, we can beat them. And we have to beat them. But you need composure all the time.

“Also I think, in the last 20 minutes, when it is 2-2, we were composed and you will make chances and we created so many chances. The finishing wasn’t always that good but we created them.”

On Sunday afternoon, the two teams will once again square off at Elland Road, and Man United will be looking to get back to winning ways.